Monday, August 31, 2009

"Our Constitution has not failed us; we have failed the Constitution."-we mean who?

Excerpts from a speech by West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, at the inauguration of a national seminar on 'Indian Parliamentary Democracy' at Gorky Sadan in Kolkata on July 25.

“In an election, it is the candidate's message of the manifesto that is supposed to win the vote. And so it does. But, smiling in its sleeve, so does money. This, of course, is a universal fact and not an Indian phenomenon.

One cannot fight an election on good wishes. Expenses have to be incurred; they always have. But the flow of currency in elections has grown from a small stream into a river in spate.

Most candidates in India's elections — all honour to them — have kept their heads above the din. But some have authored dictionaries of slang, the etymologies of which are best left unexplored.

To lodge a protest against a decision or a move is the right of every citizen or a group of people. It only shows that our society is 'alive' and not 'mechanical'. But the immobilising of an entire area or a state or citizen services by bandhs or blockades is unwisdom — of the lowest and most dangerous kind.”